France announces bid for state House seat

A youthful St. Johns County prosecutor has decided to give politics a whirl for an old-fashioned reason.

To serve.

"I've never been politically minded," Chris France said. "I never had a mind to be involved in it.

"But to use my experience and knowledge in a more dynamic manner, a more direct manner, is really exciting."

France, 38, is running as a Republican for the District 21 seat in the State House of Representatives being vacated by Joe Pickens, who has held the position for the past seven years. The term-limit law bars Pickens, a Republican, from running again.

District 21 encompasses Putnam County and portions of Clay, Volusia, Lake, Marion and Bradford counties.

France's opposition comes from Democrat Linda Myers, a former Putnam County commissioner.

"Right now, with the House being Republican-controlled, (Myers) would be on the back row," France said. "I don't think anybody has anything against her. It's just that cold, hard fact.

"I think I've met with as many serious Democrats as with Republicans, and they've encouraged me to run. They want a representative who can get access to the committees."

France, who grew up in Ormond Beach, has lived on the north side of Palatka for about five years.

He double-majored in English and history at Loyola University in New Orleans, where he also went to law school.

He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1995 and went to work in Palatka, clerking for the Putnam County judges. He wrote the judges' opinions, did their legal research and worked in the Legal Aid Law Clinic.

"I learned what the judges were looking for and got experience in every aspect of the law," France said. "Being a staff attorney for the judges is like being red-shirted. It's great stuff. Like another year of law school."

He moved on to the State Attorney's Office in St. Johns County after 18 months in Palatka.

It was, he said, a natural fit.

"It's about right and wrong, and taking the right side of things. That's the appeal for me," France said.

Over the past 10 years, he has worked in the SAO's Juvenile Division, prosecuted child and adult sex crimes and was the lead prosecutor for the Tri-County Narcotics Task Force for better than four years.

France teamed with Assistant State Attorney Matt Foxman to convict Justin Barber in 2006 of shooting his 27-year-old wife, April Barber, on a deserted beach at Guana State Park in 2002. Barber was sentenced to life without parole after being found guilty of first-degree murder.

"It's experiences like those that let me know it's best to be open to other people's opinions but also to stand up for what I think is right, no matter who's on the other side," France said. "That's something I can readily do."

The three parts of France's platform, he said, weave into a "seamless web": education, growth and property taxes.

"We all know growth is coming," he said. "I see sections of Clay and that big geographic area of Marion and Putnam in particular, and I see a diamond in the rough.

"A combination of high-tech and traditional industries is what builds a strong economy that encourages the correct growth.

"When these industries do come, we want our nurses' kids, doctors' kids and plumbers' kids to come there to live. Not live in Duval or St. Johns. And they're not going to do that unless our schools are top-notch."

None of that will come easily, particularly in a period of lower tax revenues, said France.

"The tax burden is unfairly spread out now between new homestead and old homestead residents," he said. "We also need to ensure the proper revenues to the state.

"We need to ensure that the tax burden is spread fairly and that taxation is used only to produce revenues, not to encourage any particular social agenda."